Abstract Detail

Organisms as Ecosystems: Exploring the Microbiome of Plants

Von Wettberg, Eric [1], Sanchez, Vanessa [2], Scharnagl, Klara [3], Greenspan, Alex [4], Penmetsa, RV [5], Kim, Donghun [6], Varshney, Rajeev [6], Cook, Douglas [7].

Bottlenecks and their affects on symbiont genetic diversity.

significant effects on genetic diversity and evolutionary potential. The effects of bottlenecks on the diversity of symbiotic partners of plants, such as rhizobial bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi, are little studied. We are exploring the effects of plant population bottlenecks in a variety of contexts, from domestication and breeding in crop plants; to declines in population size due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation in endangered species; to bottlenecks that result from introduction to a new range in introduced and potentially invasive species. In cultivated crops and invasive species the absence of co-evolved or co-adapted symbiotic partners in a new range may select for greater partner breadth and less dependence on microbial symbionts. For microbial partners, new potential hosts may shift patterns of host association and lead to rapid shifts in networks of interactions. With declining species, host and microbial symbiont may both face risks of an extinction vortex. Examples are highlighted from ongoing work on partner choice in chickpea and its wild relatives, and rare and invasive legumes of habitats threatened by sea level rise in South Florida. In all the plants have undergone strong bottlenecks. Symbionts,with larger population sizes, are less prone to bottlenecks.

Broader Impacts:

1 - Florida International University And Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, 11200 SW 8th Street, Biological Sciences, Florida International University, OE 167, 11200 SW 8th Street, Biological Sciences, Florida , Miami, FL, 33199, USA
2 - Florida International University, Environmental Sciences, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL, 33199, United States
3 - Florida International University, Earth and Environment, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC-II, Room 290, Miami, FL, 33199, USA
4 - University of California David, Plant Pathology, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
5 - University of California Davis, Plant Pathology, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, United States
6 - International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Legume Genomics, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India
7 - University of California Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, United States

Keywords:
Domestication
endangered species
rhizobia
symbiosis
biogeography.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: C8
Location: Rosedown/Riverside Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Time: 10:45 AM
Number: C8006
Abstract ID:121
Candidate for Awards:None